Monday, May 25, 2020

Broken Greek

Broken Greek by Pete Paphides (2020 Quercus Kindle edition)



 

Pete Paphides is a well-known and respected music journalist in the UK. I knew very little about him apart from what I’ve gathered during his guest spots on assorted podcasts and radio shows in recent years. He also happens to be married to the writer Caitlin Moran, which I guess makes him a lucky man.

Paphides (referred to by the affectionate term ‘takis’ by friends and family in the book) is the second child of Greek (mother) and Cypriot Greek (father) parents who moved to the UK in the 1960s. They fully intended to move back to the island once they had made their fortune but political instability and a Turkish invasion in the early 1970s thwarted their plans, something that would later become a source of tension in the relationship.

The book covers a roughly decade-long section of his childhood, from starting primary school to a brutal playground incident in his early High School years. A couple of chapters also tell the story of his ancestors through the turmoil of 20th century wars and upheavals, ending with his parents meeting and deciding to emigrate.

When we first encounter Pete (a name he later adopts for himself in school) he has, for inexplicable reasons, decided not to talk to anyone outside his immediate family. This frustrates parents and teachers alike and a round of therapy is no help. In the end its his older brother Aki who manages to break the spell after 4 long years.

The book is very warm and human especially when it evokes the feeling of being a child in control of nothing and not quite understanding how the wider world works yet.

The real backbone of the story is music – the young Pete is fascinated and captivated by the pop music he hears and sees on television, often going into elaborate fantasies about music stars becoming his surrogate parents. We learn his early reactions and thoughts about the various hits of the day contrasted with what he now knows about the songs and artists. As the years go on and his parents’ relationship becomes strained, he withdraws more and more into music as an escape. He makes a case against musical snobbery – as a child he loves it all and only later learns what is and isn’t supposed to be ‘cool’.

I enjoyed this book and hope there’s a sequel, we’re left seeing him as a young teenager having an epiphany about his so-called friends and his place in the world. What happens next would be nice to know.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

North Face of Soho

North Face of Soho by Clive James (2007 Picador softcover 264pp)



We now move on to the fourth part of Clive James’ “Unreliable Memoirs” series. This volume spans the period of his life from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, give or take a few choice flashbacks and flash-forwards.
Picking up from the end of the previous part we find James recently married and starting a new family. He still lives in Cambridge but commutes to an apartment in London to write. What his wife and children think about this arrangement we never find out – he chooses not to flesh-out his family in the text, they remain relative cyphers and mainly act as a motivation for him to make money.
We follow him as his writing becomes in demand in ‘Grub Street’ - the collective term for the arts and culture media (as opposed to ‘Fleet Street’ - the mainstream newspapers). He finds himself writing articles here and there for various publications before landing a regular role as a radio critic for The Listener…the only problem being that he never listens to the radio. Somehow, he salvages the situation by being moved over to writing about television instead. His TV criticism becomes popular and soon he’s poached by The Observer newspaper. Even though he now has a regular income he can’t resist taking on more work and there’s a litany of failures and missed deadlines as he tries to make a bigger name for himself. A role as a TV presenter on a programme about Cinema comes his way and he takes it on even though it requires him to commute hundreds of miles to Manchester every week.
After failing to produce a biography about a contemporary literary figure he presents a book of his collected writings to his publisher and by some amazing luck they agree to publish it instead. The Observer renews his contract and ask him to produce regular features as well – these soon turn into the “Postcard from” travel series, a format he would later transfer to TV with great success. More television work comes and goes – not always successful and by the end of the decade he starts work on the first volume of his memoirs. His publishers warn that nobody will read them as he’s ‘done nothing’ but are as surprised as him when the first “Unreliable Memoirs” become a raging success (and continues to sell strongly to this day).
All the way through, James presents a solid portrait of the life and culture of the era. Fashion, food and the behind the scenes of the media all are described by his dry wit and self-effacing humour. He still makes stupid mistakes but you get the impression that he’s starting to learn his lessons at last. Very enjoyable to read and primes you for the fifth and unfortunately final part.